Surrey County Conservatives

Surrey County Conservatives increase investment in public services whilst announcing a below inflation Council Tax rise (10th February)

Surrey County Conservatives today announced a budget that would increase spending on crucial areas such as services for Children, Adults and Families, Highways and Trading Standards, whilst also keeping the council tax rise down despite another miserly settlement from central government.

During today’s Council Meeting Nick Skellett, Leader of the Council, remarked, “This is the twelfth budget statement I have delivered and it is the twelfth in which I have said that the Government has not done us any favours in their grant allocations … we have received an increase in Formula Grant of just over £2m [in a non-schools budget of £650m]. The increase represents less than one third of one percent of our net budget. It is not even enough to meet the additional bill for landfill tax”.

“We have to seriously ask ourselves if we can afford to invest (so called supported borrowing) in our schools and roads if the Government persists in this ridiculous system of funding. The Government has to seriously ask itself if it can afford to see reduced spending on infrastructure in a county that makes such a huge contribution to the country's economy. The £5,000 net contribution that Surrey makes to the national purse for every man, woman and child in the county could be jeopardized. In the current economic crisis its more important than ever that Surrey is able to continue to help keep the economy float”.

He reminded people of his Downing Street Petition (http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Surrey-Funding/) and again urged people to sign it. “I should hope that in future we will not have to put up with a level of funding that does not do justice to the needs and hard work of the people of Surrey. Local government needs to be funded according to need, not according to the political whims of Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown”.

Despite the difficulties this settlement has caused, Cllr. Skellett was able to announce a council tax rise of 2.9% stating that whilst Surrey County Council was in dire need of more money from central government he recognised that families had been hit particularly hard by Labour’s recession and that he believed he had struck the right balance. “When considering the budget for next year I have been even more aware than usual that many taxpayers will struggle to pay any increase in tax. But … we have to strike a balance between the needs of our service users and the burden of tax on our taxpayers.

The proposals I have put forward will require a tax increase of 2.9%. This is below the current rate of inflation and is the lowest increase for 15 years. Make no mistake, I would have preferred no increase at all but we have to be realistic about the needs of our service users”.

He went on to comment that he would not “... make any proposals that are short term, unsustainable or that will leave future taxpayers with a burden of debt that will take a generation to repay - unlike some administrations I can think of”.

Addressing Members he also commented that “Surrey's prudent financial management over many years has left us in a position to meet the challenges facing us”, before outlining the specifics of his proposals including investing £11.2m more in services for children and families, £6.8m in services for adults and nearly £2m extra in highways whilst also finding a further £27.5m of efficiencies (on top of the ongoing savings of £40m p/a delivered under the Business Delivery Review).

He ended his speech by stating that he believed “… that the budget I propose does strike the right balance given the unprecedented economic situation and the difficulties facing the council and I commend it to you”.